CMI: NARRATIVE THREADS

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

In August, the media was abuzz
with the opening of the Park Hyatt hotel in New York. Eight years
in the making, it was intended to be a New York icon. Even so, the vision for
the interior design was created by the Toronto firm Yabu Pushelberg (YP) which has
been our client for many years.

We started work on this project in
May 2009 but the carpets were not installed until August 2014. Through experience,
we have become accustomed to the lengthy process attached to carpets in iconic
hotels, but we thought it would be interesting for our blog readers to see how a carpet project might extend over five years.

Ana Cunningham was the Creative
Matters designer assigned to this project from start to end and here she explains
the process.

How many pieces did you create for the Park Hyatt New York?

There were five rugs in the Glow design (from our Aerial
Collection) for the lobby and one custom piece for a lounge named the "Courtyard."

Glow in the lobby at the Park Hyatt New York 90% wool, 10% silk : 72 oz : hand tufted in a low, tight loop with 30% tip shearing

What were the creative considerations of the spaces?

When we started the design process, Alienor Guilhem - who was
at that time based in YP’s Toronto office - had some of the finishes selected.Metal finishes, a sample of the marble
floor and some fabrics gave us direction for selecting the colour palettes. She
printed out imagery as inspiration for the Courtyard
design.

In both locations, we knew we were working with spaces that were
fairly neutral, giving the rugs centre stage. With the Courtyard, we were
really able to play with the design and include a variety of colours (the rug
ended up with 14 colours and 18 blends). With Glow, the organic orbs gave
relief to the undulating linework in both the walls and floor.

How did you and YP eventually decide to use a customized
version of Glow?

After the preliminary concepts were complete (we had to
reconfigure the Glow pattern for each of the five different sizes), we started asking
the mill to supply samples. Only one sample of the Courtyard carpet was
required for approval. However, the Glow colouration required many samples
before the final colourway was selected. We initially thought the original Glow design in silver would work but
the marble floor was much warmer in tone, causing this colourway to look much
greener than anticipated. We tried various approaches. Some matched the warm
taupe of the floor too closely, causing it to blend in (which was not the
desired effect). The final approved custom colourway was on the bluer side
grey, with a hint of violet to inject a touch more life.

What were the practical considerations?

When it came to quality of the carpets, we suggested a
low tight loop for the Glow design which we knew from experience would stand up to the heavy foot traffic
expected in a hotel lobby. For the quieter Courtyard, we recommended a cut pile
quality which created a more residential look.

Detail in the custom carpet for the Courtyard

What influenced your mill selection for this project?

From early on in the project, we planned to use a
mill in Thailand that we have been working with since Creative Matters opened
for business 25 years ago. We were confident their handtufted quality would be the best
for a busy hotel.

You said you went through many samples – how does that work?

To have a sample made, we need to select colour poms.
Because the Glow design requires a very specific tonal transition from one
colour to the next, we needed to ensure that none of the areas were too low or too
high in contrast. Essentially, if one colour turned out to be incorrect, it would
throw the whole design off.

Grey poms

For each sample, we sent an email to the Thai mill specifying the colour by referring to
poms from our ARS pom box (the mill has the same box). If the ARS box did not have
the appropriate tones, we would have to send custom poms. Our orders always include
a quick computer rendering of the sample but what appears on a screen will
never be accurate. Poms are the only way to understand
the colours we need to achieve. Once the mill completes the sample, it is sent
to us via FedEx. Generally it takes four to six weeks to receive a sample but if necessary we can expedite the process.

Once the final sample has been approved, how to you continue
to play a role in the production of the carpet?

Once the sample is approved,we prepare the production order and send it to the mill. We tag the sample noting approved colours, quality and techniques such as the 30% tip shearing which adds another level of dimension to the rugs. The mill then completes a CAD (a computer design) where our designs are placed into the required format for production. The CAD is sent to us for final approval prior to commencing. During production, we ask for photos because it’s always useful to see the goods on the loom - a last chance
for changes before latex is applied to the back. We also follow the shipping
of the carpets to ensure they arrive on time.

The Park Hyatt rugs arrived at our New York warehouse in
July 2013 where they were inspected by the client and YP with rave reviews. They
remained in storage until shortly before the hotel opened its doors this
August. Carpets are generally the last items to go in, once all the other
trades are done.

Photo: Ben Schlappig, One Mile at a Time

For budgetary reasons, you often never see your finished
work – how does that feel?

True, we don’t all get to see the rugs we worked on in
person but for this project I have had the unexpected pleasure of seeing the Glow carpet well displayed in the October issue of Surface Magazine with none other than Mario Testino artfully placed upon it.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

A magnificent addition to the Toronto cultural
scene opened in September and we are very proud to be part of it. Not only is the
Aga Khan Museum the first museum in North America devoted to Islamic art, but it
is also the first time Creative Matters has designed a floorcovering for a
museum.

Situated at the north end of the city, the
museum is part of a $300 million complex that has been eight years in
the making. More than 1,000 artifacts from the 8th to 19th centuries are on
display. We created the carpet for the Bellerive Room which features a ceramics
collection.

Japanese architect Fumihiko Makichose to use the geometric patterns often seen
in mosques throughout the museum. They can be seen in the inlaid floor of the
courtyard, etched glass, wood screens and … in the tiled carpet. Creative
Matters was invited to join the creative team in January 2014. Interior designers
Studio Adrien Gardère from Paris had already decided upon a red tiled carpet
for the Bellerive room and asked CMI designer Ana Cunningham to develop the
idea into a floorcovering.

The final choice was 36” x 36” tiles in a burnt
orange and gold. The tile motif was enhanced by a square within a square. The
inner square contains an ornate scroll pattern and the outer square contains
what we believe to be the Iris, a symbol of religious freedom, often seen in old
Persian rugs.

As thousands of people will browse the artifacts
every week, the tiles were printed in a hardwearing nylon and manufactured in
the U.S. The tiles were made with pad attached and this was adhered to the floor
when the carpet was laid in August.

When Ana had the opportunity to inspect her
work and admire the stunning architecture at a preview, she said, "I loved
how the etched glass and wood screens added another dimension to the space with
the reflections and shadows they created. Truly a special project to be a part
of.”

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Although Creative Matters’ carpets are produced and installed all
around the world, we actually design in Toronto, home of North America’s most
important film festival.During the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), way too much attention is
paid – in our opinion anyway – to what is happening on the carpet and not to
the carpets themselves. In fact, back in 2010, knowing the success of the
Festival is dependent on volunteers and sponsorship opportunities, we offered to
design and produce all the red carpets at no cost to TIFF. In return, we hoped
to add "official supplier of red carpets" to our resume. As with any
highly successful festival, such offers have to go through a lot of "red
tape" and so far, our carpet proposition has not reached fruition.
However, we would like to share our thoughts behind the red carpet, so here is
our first design and a Q&A with Ana Cunningham who is our Creative Director
and the designer working on the project.

You created this
design four years ago. Obviously styles change. How might you modify it if CMI
has the opportunity to supply carpets for TIFF 2015?

The original
design created four years ago was a quick concept and most likely would have
undergone several iterations and refining prior to production. As for 2015, I
think our approach would be much more subtle and sophisticated, while
appropriately highlighting the sponsors. Old Hollywood glamour is still on my
radar as inspiration, so perhaps a design with a modern deco edge in subtle
shades of red would work.

The carpet
design itself would need to be subtle enough so that it doesn’t clash with the
movie stars, while still being a promotional tool for the show and their sponsors.

The most
important question on any well-heeled woman’s mind is surely about the
materials required to ensure the highest and pointiest of celebrity stilettos
do not get caught?

Our first choice
for quality would be nylon goods, especially if we were asked to supply for
both indoor and outdoor venues. We would manufacture it in either solution dyed
tufted or printed, in the lowest pile possible, so as not to disturb any
Louboutin heel which will float across its surface.

And are there
materials to avoid so that a dress with a train does not create a static
nightmare?

If a nylon
carpet is not treated with an anti-static solution, then yes, nylon would be a problem. In
this case however, the products we use have all the bells and whistles to stand
up to such elements.

Would you have
to produce an indoor red carpet and a different outdoor red carpet made from materials that can handle rain?

For a continuous
look, we would use the same carpet for both the indoor and outdoor venues. Nylon
would stand up to the outdoor elements, for the short amount of time required
for these events.

The official red
carpet that we know of, specifically for the Oscars, has a proprietary blend of
several red shades. This is to ensure the carpet appears as the appropriate red
on a digital screen, which I’d say resembles a scarlet red.

Do dress
stylists know what colour to expect and how to coordinate outfits?

Yes, and the red
carpet will come into play when stylists select wardrobes for their clientele.

As someone who
works with colour every day, which colours would you choose for a
red carpet appearance and which would you avoid?

Whenever I watch
a red carpet event I just swoon over the pale, crystal studded dresses. The red
carpet is a perfect backdrop for these shades - you can see what I mean at this link: http://binged.it/1ufT3IE A colour to be
wary of would be certain shades of orange, which could quickly clash with red
and look sort of drab.

Are there official dimensions for red carpets?

Typically, if
you were to search for a red carpet runner online, they come as 4’ x 20’ however,
for an event like TIFF, we would customize to the size required. The carpets
can be made in up to a 15’ width and 100’ in length. If a larger or wall-to-wall
piece is required, our talented installers use the latest hot-melt bonding
tapes to seam the carpet together. Interesting fact - the Oscars use 16,500 square feet of red carpet which takes two days to
install!

Outside the
entertainment industry, in what situations do designers call for carpets that
feature a lot of red?

Traditionally red
was very much a prominent colour in handmade rugs due to its

symbolism which
varies throughout the history of various cultures. Today, if a designer
requests a rug that features a lot of red, one would assume it has been
selected to be a focal point in the space. It’s admittedly a little more daring
to order a red rug, however, undoubtedly bold to do so.

What are some of
the non-entertainment-industry red carpets CMI has designed?One of my favourites is the dining room in the St. Regis hotel in Mexico City, but if you want to practice walking a long red carpet, the lobby rug at the Gowlings law office in Vancouver is a good one.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Just like fashion designers, we have our custom pieces
(haute couture) and our collections (ready-to-wear). However, we don’t walk our
carpets down the runway, so trade shows are where we present our collections
“in the wool” to current and potential retailers.

We are shortly off to NYICS – the New York International
Carpet Show - taking place this year from September 7 – 9. It’s been
interesting to see this relatively new fair (10 years) steadily growing.
Domotex in Germany and Forza Tappeti in Italy are longer-running and among the ones
we have attended regularly during our 25 years in the business.

While a show is always a special time to connect with
trusted retailers, friends and trends, two particularly exciting things are
happening for us this year. After XX years of introducing collections, this is
the first time we will present a collection made with natural dyes. And, it’s
also the first time we will host a draw at our booth when, in collaboration
with our fair trade endorser Label STEP, we will draw the winner of a stunning
(if we say so ourselves) handknotted rug.

The Natural Dye Collection was only set into motion during
Carol Sebert’s spring trip to Nepal when she finally discovered a dye master
with the requisite skill in natural dyes. Once the design “Percolate” was
established, then came the inevitable oftoing and froing with samples in various colourways. We finally settled
on five for the launch of the collection but only one of them has made it off
the loom in time for the show. Mulberry, which will take pride of place at our
booth, thankfully arrived in Toronto last week.

Unlike fashion, our collections are not tied to a particular
year and season. While rugs within collections continue to be popular with our
retailers, we continue to add designs and colourways. Consequently, also up front and centre
in the booth, will be Drift and Shale, two new designs for the XXV Collection
released in 2013. Within that collection, we will also premiere three new
colourways of the highly popular Dream design, and a blue version ofmuch-loved Suspension.

In our Toronto office, Abigail Williams is the chief
logistician for trade shows because - in addition to her design work - she also
manages CMI’s relationships with retailers. In order to have the new designs in
time for the show, she is in constant communication with the different mills. She,
more than anyone, breathed a heavy sigh of relief when Shale left Nepal on
Monday headed directly to New York via Fedex.

Last week, Abigail was busy was selecting all the rugs she
wanted for the show and physicallyloading them up on a skid. In New York, she will unload them and make
them all pretty with the input of president Carol Sebert who is naturally an
essential member of the trade show delegation.

Abigail still has to finalize the details of the draw with
Reto Aschwandan who will travel to New York from Label STEP’s headquarters in
Switzerland. The rug raffle has an interesting history dating back to our anniversary celebrations last November when many visitors were invited to take part in the design process. From the 60 designs that emerged, six were selected for online voting and “#58” was the design that headed off to Nepal. No doubt, Abigail is looking forward to making the call that tells someone they are the lucky winner of a one-of-kind rug valued at $5,000.

And when business moves from the trade show to somewhere
more comfortable, our favourite place to entertain clients in New York is the Soho
Grand hotel where many of our rugs can be appreciated in situ. Nothing is more apt
than discussing floorcoverings in the bar area while gazing upon a splendid sweep
of our woven axminster.

Abigail doesn’t know it yet, but once the trade show
business is complete, there’ll be a quick trip to the Park Hyatt. The hotel only
opened last week, so it will be the first opportunity to inspect our lobby
carpeting.And thinking back to our
collections, it’s interesting to note that although the Park Hyatt was a custom
project, the designer at Yabu Pushelberg actually chose to use the Glow design
from our Aerial collection which was remastered in an exclusive colour
combination.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

The New York City designer
chose the ultimate in simplicity – a one-coloured grey rectangular rug with no
pattern. She also chose the ultimate in luxury fibres – 100% silk.

She was only willing to
trust the simplicity of the design and the luxury of the fibre to the finest
production processes. For this she came to Creative Matters. No detail was to
be left unperfected in the painstaking production of this rug. And that
included the lesser-documented process of binding.

The easiest, most economical way to
finish off the edge of raw carpeting is to sew tape over the edge of a carpet
with a high powered sewing machine. Obviously, this was not our vision for the
grey silk rug.

The Nepalese artisans to whom we
had entrusted the production of the rug, take incredible pride in their work
and for them binding is a three-step process.

First, the loose threads
from the warp and weft were folded back and encouraged to grip each other
tightly with a high quality adhesive. After it had dried, the artisans worked
their way around the rug perimeter with a special stitch that anchors the
threads securely. Finally, they took the same grey silk thread and closely
bound the entire edge with an overcast stitch.

The stitches may look simple but the ability to
anchor the stitch to a weft thread is key. A poorly executed stitch will lead
to a tension inconsistency and eventually knots unraveling from the rug. Search
Google for rug binding and most of the entries will be from companies who
specialize in this oft-needed repair.

This splendid grey silk rug is currently in
shipment - we look forward to presenting it in its full splendour shortly.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Following Carol Seberts’s
discovery of some incredible natural dyeing expertise in Nepal in March, we
are excited to announce our first natural dye collection. We’ll be bringing
the first rug to show off at NYICS in September and rolling out the full collection quickly thereafter. And here is a sneak peak at
the design of the first rug.

The rug itself it is still in the weaving process, but here are some incredible photos of the wool at the dyeing mill. The dyeing stage alone, can take as long as two weeks.

The dyeing process starts with the
preparation of the colour. The dye master tests and mixes the natural dyes making up a batch for each colour required in a rug. Tibetan dye masters have acquired a deep knowledge of the natural dyeing materials over many generations but due to the popularity of chemicals
dyes, this traditional art came close to being wiped out.

When
the dye master has achieved the correct colour, the yarn is placed in the hot dye where it is cooked for
shorter or longer periods of time and at higher or lower temperatures,
depending on the dye and the shade desired.

Once the dye master is satisfied with
the tones the wool has taken on, s/he pulls the steamy bundle from the pot. Over 170 plants have been short-listed for dying use in Nepal,
including: indigo, mulberry, saffron, turmeric,
rhubarb roots and walnut. Madder root is often used for red hues.

Smaller quantities of wool are dyed in the pot and handled manually.
Heavier quantities are loaded onto a spindle which is turned by hand to dip the
wool into the dye time and time again.

When natural dyes are handled
correctly, even in skeins of yarn not yet woven, the colours are simply
beautiful.

Here the dye master in Nepal is showing us in Toronto how the dried wool now matches the colour specified in our design.A dye master - like a good winemaker - must be a chemist and a microbiologist with a working
knowledge of botany, geology, meteorology and plant physiology. We’re delighted
to have finally found a dye master who can meet the exacting standards of
Creative Matters.

Monday, June 30, 2014

By Carol Sebert, Principal

Even though our design hub
is based at our head office in Toronto, an equally important part of our work
takes place in the countries where our carpets are physically produced. We regularly
visit India, Nepal, Thailand and now China to liaise with the skilled artisans
who bring our creations to life.

In March, I was back at
the “temporary field offices” in India and Nepal. After 25 years of touring
these beautiful but challenging countries, you might think I’d have reached a
been-there-seen-that attitude. Actually, the reverse is true – every trip is
still full of new discoveries. Having
toured so many production facilities, talked with so many local artisans and
developed an ease with the cultural differences, I now experience it all on a
much deeper and more detailed level.

Of course, with every trip,
I’m looking for new inspiration: something that will really fit for a
particular client; something that will take a new carpet trend just one step
further; something that will honour fair trade practices even more …

Two important discoveries this year concerned
knots.First I came across a mill
which can achieve a perfect low tight
loop pile. This has always been the domain of the Thai mills, so
finding a similar quality in India means we can offer it to our clients at a better price point.

Then – oh joy! – another
facility with a particularly extensive (over 100)
collection of hand looms and remarkable expertise to go with them, including
the Persian knot. Persian
rugs aren’t our specialty at Creative Matters, but we see an opportunity here
to offer our clients the remarkable quality of this knot in non-Persian
designs. FYI, a 9 x 12 (2.75 m x 3.75 m) carpet takes six months of knotting.

The most exciting discovery
of the trip was the potential of vegetable
dying. I hadpreviously discounted it
because I didn't know of a master dyer who could get pretty well any colour
under the rainbow but now I do! It's pretty special - talk about eco friendly -
and we are thrilled to bring this opportunity to our clients in 2015. The photo
shows an example of the range of colours that are produced (by talented hands) with
the skin of pomegranates.

Traditionally the fringe of the rug is left at the
colour of the neutral wool used to assemble the warp and weft, so it was
interesting to visit with artisans who are perfecting the art of pre-dyeing the warp and the weft
to create a variety of blending or contrasting effects.

The art of weaving goes back centuries in these
countries and the range and ingenuity
of the equipment never ceases to amaze me. Here the weaver is using his
foot to work the warp threads – like a pipe organ.

Abrashis a
naturally occurring dye variation that creates subtle colour change - or a
stronger contrast - within a rug. At Creative Matters we often find that such
natural irregularities can add to the charm and authenticity of a hand woven
carpet. In this photo, a mill owner was showing me his control of gradations
with abrash – it’s useful for our staff to know we have a partner who can
control the contrast so skillfully.

No CMI carpet gets to the
loom before our designers have carefully examined multiple carpet squares. They
arrive almost daily in our Toronto office in sterile-but-reliable Fedex packs,
so what a pleasurable change it is to check samples in pure sunshine, under the
proud and watchful eyes of the mill owners amid the smells and bustle of daily
Indian life.

I work with colour every day
but vibrance of colours in Indian street life never fails to astound me.

Finally, what a joy it is to
discover a precious moment like this. It perfectly captures my love of textiles
and every little labour-intensive stage of producing hand-woven carpets.